Microsoft has rolled out the Kids mode for Edge browser to bring a safer browsing experience for children aged 12 and younger. The feature is available worldwide (with version 90.0.818.39 update).
Edge’s Kids mode brings two options for children ranging from ages 5-8 and 9-12. It brings tracking prevention, which the company claims can block “the majority of trackers for maximum privacy and minimum personalised ads”, which will add to the existing search protections via Bing SafeSearch.
By default, about 70 popular kids sites are allowed when surfing in the Kids mode; however, this list can be customised easily through Edge’s settings.
The elder age range will also get access to news articles from MSN for Kids, including fun facts, science, animals, and more.
“If your kid tries to navigate to a site outside of that allowed list, they’ll be greeted with a friendly block page, encouraging them to either ask for permission or try navigating elsewhere,” Liat Ben-Zur, Corporate VP at Microsoft, announced.
To ensure that children aren’t able to navigate away from the Kids mode on Edge, user authentication is required that the parents can set.
Microsoft has collaborated with Disney to bring some kid-friendly browser themes from movies like Frozen, The Little Mermaid, Pixar’s Cars, Toy Story, and Coco to make the experience more interactive. More of these are expected to be added in the coming months.
“Our research tells us that about 50% of U.S. parents are impacted by what we call the “hand-off scenario.” This is that all too familiar situation of letting your child access the web from a shared device when you’re working, making dinner, picking up scattered toys, or doing any of the million things parents do daily.”
With the Kids mode, Microsoft has stepped up its game into a much-needed internet ecosystem as an unprecedented number of children are getting onto the internet for the first time and having a safe environment to surf the internet is a step in the right direction.
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